1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the invention include a method and system to support distributed group decision analysis, and more particularly, to a method and system to support distributed group decision analysis in tactical situations using data structures and algorithms for representing individual contributions to group decision analysis and controlling the merging of the individual contributions into a consensus representation under the editorship of a human and/or an automatic decision maker decision-maker.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous commercial GroupWare and GDSS (Group Decision Support) products which relate to providing aid to decision making. Examples of these products include Group System, Vision Quest, SAMM.TCB Works, Decision Explorer, Option Finder, Council, Meeting Works, and Catalyze. While the field of GDSS is committed to developing interactive computer-based systems which facilitate the solution of unstructured problems by decision makers working together as a team, the main disadvantage of prior and current GDSS has been that they attempt to enhance the effectiveness of decision groups primarily through interactive sharing of information among the group members. Accordingly, the focus of these systems is almost purely on facilitating group interaction, brainstorming and communication. Virtually no attention is paid to the underlying decision analytic principles or to supporting normative decision making.
The main disadvantage of such support systems that are devoted primarily to decision analytical calculations is that they typically focus only on this aspect and neglect the equally important cognitive aspects of decision making. As a result, the common disadvantages of prior decision analytical systems are (1) are typically difficult to use by anyone other than an expert in decision analysis, (2) are overly time consuming so that tactical decision makers are reluctant to apply them, (3) require the full time participation of a trained facilitator to guide the collaborative group through the analytical decision making process; and (4) do not bring the group to a final decision recommendation or result.